The U.S. women’s basketball team put on a complete display of dominance to decisively eliminate the Australian Opals from Tokyo 2020.
The game was much anticipated after Australia stunned Team USA in a pre-Games exhibition series in Las Vegas. That same spark that had guided the Opals to victory in June was firmly stumped out by the U.S., as they took the win in Japan 86-73.
Early fouls and wasteful play – including 10 turnovers in the first quarter alone – by Australia gifted Team USA the chance to plough ahead. As the minutes ticked down, the U.S. put up 15 unanswered points.
From then on Australia continued to struggle against the defensive brick wall erected by the Americans. The U.S. won a total of 20 points from turnover ball thanks to their efforts to deny their opponents' offensive freedom.
Breanna Stewart led the top scorers list with 23 points, the highest scoring Australian - Leilani Mitchell - trailed with 14.
The statistic that will likely most please Dawn Staley, the three-time Olympic gold medal winning coach of Team USA, is the 24 team assists. Her players competed selflessly to clinch their classy win, and she will be looking for a repeat of that same calibre as the U.S. head to the semi-finals.
With an Olympic win streak extended to 53 games, the U.S. look to be in formidable form. Their next challenge will be a semi-final match-up against Serbia who downed China earlier in the day: 77-70.
U.S. Women’s Basketball: road to the semi-final
Preliminary Round Group B
United States 81 v 72 Nigeria
United States 86 v 69 Japan
United States 93 v 82 France
Quarterfinal
United States 86 v 73 Australia
Schedule: The U.S. women will play their semi-final against Serbia on Thursday 6 August at 13:40 JST
You can follow all the action from the game on our Tokyo 2020 Live Blog here.